World No 11 Bagdatis of Cyprus, former world No 1 Ferrero of Spain and Britain's great hope Henman will be part of a very strong field this year which also features world No 4 Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia and No 5 James Blake of the US.

Bagdatis, 21, caused a stir on the men's circuit in January by making it to the final of the Australian Open. He also made it through to the semi-final at Wimbledon last month.

"I've heard good things about Bangkok and I'm excited about playing at the Thailand Open for the first time," said the Cypriot, who despite his impressive results in the majors is still chasing for his first career trophy.

Spaniard Ferrero will make his second visit to the Kingdom since the inaugural Open three years ago, where he lost a heart-breaking final to American Taylor Dent.

Slumping to No 30 in the world this week, Ferrero is out to prove he is not only a clay specialist.

Henman, now 64 in the rankings, made a last minute withdrawal in 2005 with an injury.

"This year I'm fit and feeling great and I'm excited about playing in Bangkok for the first time," said one of the very few natural serve-and-volleyers on the tour.

Also coming to the fourth Thailand Open are former world No 1 Lleyton Hewitt, last year's quarter-finalist, and Marat Safin, a semi-finalist in 2004.

Scotland's Andy Murray, who lost to Roger Federer in the final last year, will also return, while Argentine Guillermo Coria will be making his first appearance.

Fans can watch coverage of the tournament on Channel 3 during the main draw competition from September 25 to October 1. Tickets are available at all Thaiticketmaster outlets from Saturday, July 15.

Tennis fans can call 02-2623456 for more details. Ticket prices start at Bt300 for the qualifying rounds and Bt500 for the main draw.

Hingis begs testers

nIt's not the knock on the door that worries Martina Hingis - it's the timing.

The Swiss former world No 1, making her WTA summer hardcourt start in San Diego, California, this week, complained that a Sunday drug test during a pre-tournament training day threw off her carefully prepared routine for no good reason.

Hingis, who returned in January after a long break from the sport, said drug testers need to have some consideration.

"They should look at a player's schedule. They just come in and screw up your whole day," the five-time Grand Slam winner said.

"They could come at the end of the day or in the morning, but not in the middle of the day when you have training scheduled.

"It's not a big difference if it's in the morning, the night or the next day. It's not like anything's going to go away."

Doping tests are a timely topic across all of sport these days given the latest doping allegations against two US stars, Tour de France winner Floyd Landis and 100m world record co-holder Justin Gatlin.

Hingis said she is all for random drug testing - "the rules should be respected," she declared - but that testers could do with some consideration for those who take the tests.

Hingis said she will never forget a 6 a.m. test performed in Switzerland in 1996.

"I'm not running away, but I want my two hours of sleep. It's OK to test me. But don't show up at 6," Hingis lamented.

"How far can they go? I'm not afraid of test, but they could at least respect my private hours."

Lerpong Amsa-ngiam

 The Nation